| FTBL The Good, The Bad and The Oh So Ugly vs. UofSC

[kbama15]

I’m probably gonna get blasted but that’s ok. But, do you think the offense is handcuffed somewhat due to Milroes inability to read a defense at times? I mean no slants, everything is downfield and mostly wide open, Just my thoughts, too many good players on this side of the ball, should be dynamic!

 

[Crimson&WhiteGecko]

I’m probably gonna get blasted but that’s ok. But, do you think the offense is handcuffed somewhat due to Milroes inability to read a defense at times? I mean no slants, everything is downfield and mostly wide open, Just my thoughts, too many good players on this side of the ball, should be dynamic!

Milroe is making the intermediate throws. His problem yesterday, was that SC had a far more superior pass rush. They might have the best in the league. And he did get rattled from that. Most QB's will be rattled. He's not a Peyton Manning or a Bryce Young when it comes to reading the defense but I do get a sense that he has improved at reading the defenses.

SC just applied a basic premise to thier defense in that they understood that their best players on defense were the DE's. And their best solution on defense was to call a defense that was pure blitz, for the most part. It was fairly effective. And other teams will game plan similarly from now on.

 

[PurlJam]

Good: The pulled pork nachos I made.

Bad: 4 and 9, not just a first down, but a touchdown. I guess if you're gonna suck, make it count.

Ugly: Never think it cant get worse.

 

[BamaFan334]

Milroe is making the intermediate throws. His problem yesterday, was that SC had a far more superior pass rush. They might have the best in the league. And he did get rattled from that. Most QB's will be rattled. He's not a Peyton Manning or a Bryce Young when it comes to reading the defense but I do get a sense that he has improved at reading the defenses.

SC just applied a basic premise to thier defense in that they understood that their best players on defense were the DE's. And their best solution on defense was to call a defense that was pure blitz, for the most part. It was fairly effective. And other teams will game plan similarly from now on.

I happen to agree, but my issues with Milroe are the continued mental mistakes. He seems to be reading a second receiver this year compared to one last year, but forcing the ball, underthrowing the ball, and taking sacks is taking away from tge offense. He looks absolutely great when he out-athletcizes the other team, but Carolina threw speed and ability at him and it neutralized his X-factor to an extent. I just want to see the Freshman and maybe Sophomore mistakes to be gone from a guy that has been here four years.

 

[Crimson&WhiteGecko]

I happen to agree, but my issues with Milroe are the continued mental mistakes. He seems to be reading a second receiver this year compared to one last year, but forcing the ball, underthrowing the ball, and taking sacks is taking away from tge offense. He looks absolutely great when he out-athletcizes the other team, but Carolina threw speed and ability at him and it neutralized his X-factor to an extent. I just want to see the Freshman and maybe Sophomore mistakes to be gone from a guy that has been here four years.

You described him when he gets rattled. He definitely got rattled & reverted back to his old self/instincts. Not sure if he will ever mature out of that here.

When this starts happening teams start to creep in on him so even shuffle pass or tailback run gets swallowed up. There needs to be some passing plays, bubble screen, or passes to TE's (that has been there several times) that need to get called to force the defenses to spread out more. Is Milroe getting lost with that as the game goes on as teams tighten up? Looks that way. So Sheridan needs to spend more time in practice with plays that are specifically designed to force the defense to spread back out. I think back to what Kiffin would do with Hurts with death by a 1000 bubble screens. So by the end of the 1st quarter the defenses were gased & then the interior running game would take over.

 

[Crimson&WhiteGecko]

@BamaFan334

I remember with McElroy, McCarron, Coker, etc, the coaching was take the high percentage throw. That has changed since Tua. If we can learn to adjust back to that a little bit more & not always scheme to have a BIG TD play every drive, then I think Milroe will grasp more how to attack defenses that are pinning their ears back & coming after him. Just focus on the high percentage completion. Then go from there.

 

[BamaFan334]

@BamaFan334

I remember with McElroy, McCarron, Coker, etc, the coaching was take the high percentage throw. That has changed since Tua. If we can learn to adjust back to that a little bit more & not always scheme to have a BIG TD play every drive, then I think Milroe will grasp more how to attack defenses that are pinning their ears back & coming after him. Just focus on the high percentage completion. Then go from there.

I don't disagree with any of this. I just get tired of seeing the same ole stuff. Here's how I feel and this came from a softball conversation I had with a dad from my daughter's middle school team, "I'm ready to start seeing some errors by some other players". Meaning, if we know he's struggling, mix it up and see if we can figure it out with another guy. Milroe is gonna win 90% if the battles, but just like every other human on Earth, some days just won't be your day, and we have ro have a response to that.

We're all arm chair quarterbacks and coaches, so I feel if we can see as much, the guys in the freaking building living and breathing it every day and making millions should be able to as well. I'm not on a cliff like some, but I'm not happy with a few things and I think that is OK for me to feel that way and wonder what Kalen will do to fix it.

 

[Justneedme81]

Good- Bama was determined to run it today... maybe a tad stubborn on some 1st down runs, but I get it. They've got to get that part of the offense going. Still some struggles, and some of that is in part to Roberts having to play injured... but they still need to find some ways other than zone read stuff to make some hay there. The zone read is great, but it also exposes Milroe to a few more hits than I care to see. Overall, the run stats were still kinda blah... but they've got to get it going and maybe (hopefully) today was a step in that direction.

The decision on the first drive of the game to go for it on 4th and 1 was big (bad spot by the way, which seems to happen a lot with Bama). They tried to set the tone early, and obviously the 7 points it led to were nice. Not long after, it felt like Bama was on the cusp of going up 21-0 and starting to really run away with it, but then they got stuck in the mud and we saw flashbacks of the Vandy game in several areas.

Tim Smith had a good day.

Domani Jackson battling back from his 1st half injury and getting back in there for the 2nd half. He's played much better this season than I was expecting... one of the (few) bright spots on defense.

The defense has more issues than Britney Spears, but when they had to at the end (after the onside recovery), at a time when it seemed like they might be frustrated and worn out, they stood up and squashed it. I'm probably being overly optimistic here, but maybe, maybe, that will be a spark that ignites something in them going into the Tennessee game.

Along those lines, you can't just pressure, pressure, pressure every team, every play, every week... but when Bama brings it, it sure seems like things trend in a much more positive direction. And I swear there's a different energy on defense when they do it... that's concerning on one hand if I'm right, but also... hell, lean into at this point.


Bad- Bama got gifted a roughing the punter call, but 2 weeks in a row now Bama has been screwed on a roughing the passer call where a hand brushes the helmet of a QB. It's either roughing or it isn't. It isn't like holding or pass interference (and buddy, they missed some holds too).... it isn't hard to figure out.

The defense is still missing way too many tackles. On the rare occasions they are in the right spot for a big stop, all too often, they don't get the guy down.

The defense might as well bring a white flag when it comes to defending the edge.

OL/Pass protection overall had too many breakdowns today which led to Milroe losing his mojo, which led to hesitation, which led to mistakes. Gotta clean that up.


Ugly- That timeout by DeBoer before the half, that helped Carolina get a breather and draw up a play for the score on 4th and 9... damn. I'm not sure what his thinking was there... Did he assume they were just gonna punt? Because I never got that feeling.

Bernard really needed to go down on that late TD... everyone wants their stats, but giving them the ball back with still a 1 score game and 1:54 left was not smart. At all. He goes down inside the five, they are out of timeouts, it's ball game. Again, that's more on coaching than on Bernard, but all should know better. That can't happen. Returning the game sealing INT was also dumb, too much can go wrong there... but at least he slid at the end. Players these days have football video game IQ's... they do stuff they'd do on the Xbox, but shouldn't do in real life.

LB play was terrible today. Easily fooled. Slow. Just really bad. They've become a liability which opposing OC's are now exploiting.

How many fumbles have we had to kick off returns this season? 3? 4? I can't even remember at this point, but it's an insane number based on the amount of returns.


A note- This team feels like it's just sinking at this point. DeBoer is finding out what the SEC is now. He's finding out what Alabama is too. Can he make the necessary adjustments to the former? Can he withstand the pressure of the latter? Just doing 1 of the 2 is too tough an ask for most. DeBoer doesn't seem like "most", but the answers will reveal themselves in due time.

Bama should be about a Pick 'em going into Knoxville, which on the surface seems silly. But, it also says a lot about the weapons this team has, especially on offense. And the potential. DeBoer has always been at his best in the "big" games. Can the team take on the same persona again like they did against UGA? If so, I like the Tide's chances, a lot. If they play like the past 2 1/2 games, it's going to be a tough night.


Roll Tide.

This is good write up. I agree with everything pretty much except for one thing. I don't think Interception return at end of the game was dumb. You can't leave the decision in Referee's hand knowing how things were going in the game. I don't think you would want to leave that decision in Referee's hand where he might said it's a safety. I would want them to go ahead and return it but at least go down immediately once you're out of the end zone. The clock hit 0 as soon he got past 10 yard.

 

[Kamikazi18627]

I've felt that way since the spring game about Milroe. He's a freak athlete, love seeing that. He's dangerous inside the 10 going in due to that athleticism. But the yardage before the opponents 10 yard line, he's average at best. We still haven't learned to avoid running backwards in the face of pressure, throwing into coverage, staring down receivers etc etc etc.

When he's on, he's on and can make almost any throw. When he's pressured, liability.

 

[Justneedme81]

I've felt that way since the spring game about Milroe. He's a freak athlete, love seeing that. He's dangerous inside the 10 going in due to that athleticism. But the yardage before the opponents 10 yard line, he's average at best. We still haven't learned to avoid running backwards in the face of pressure, throwing into coverage, staring down receivers etc etc etc.

When he's on, he's on and can make almost any throw. When he's pressured, liability.

I don't know what happened on that play, I believe there was someone wide open on that play. I don't know why he didnt see that guy or throw the ball away. Milroe has a bad habit of not throwing the ball away. That is correctable. I wouldn't say he's bad... You gotta realize Tua, Bryce does same thing.

 

[TideatMileHigh]

You know the sad thing is yall is that I haven't really watched any of the games this year. The sport that I grew up watching, IMHO, is dead now. When I lived in Colorado from 2006-2014, I thought it was awesome hearing Alabama's name in the halls of my high school when Alabama won their first NC under Saban in 2009. Many of those players were from my home city, Mobile, and it was really quite awesome how even just 15 years ago the game was still very regional in nature.

The game today is so damn polluted with big money that I can't even be bothered to watch it anymore. I still casually follow Alabama, but I am not nearly as invested as I once was. TBH I think the only thing that can truly save the sport is for the current model to collapse in on itself, resulting in a total reset... though that is a pipe dream.

 

['65 Cobra]

Good - It looked to me like Malachi Moore was telling Jackson to run the ball out of the end zone on that final play. I believe that was very smart because those refs would've called a safety and we lose.
Bad - why are we not bringing pressure on 3rd and long and especially 4th and long??? That 4th and 9 play they got a TD on, we brought zero pressure and they're QB was unhurried which gave him time to scan the field and time for receivers to breaak open.
Ugly - that onside kick was pathetic on our part. When I watched the replay it seriously looked like our guys were swatting at the ball instead of just grabbing it and holding on. It was like watching a bad movie. Really pathetic.

 

[JoseyWalesTheOutlaw]

You know the sad thing is yall is that I haven't really watched any of the games this year. The sport that I grew up watching, IMHO, is dead now. When I lived in Colorado from 2006-2014, I thought it was awesome hearing Alabama's name in the halls of my high school when Alabama won their first NC under Saban in 2009. Many of those players were from my home city, Mobile, and it was really quite awesome how even just 15 years ago the game was still very regional in nature.

The game today is so damn polluted with big money that I can't even be bothered to watch it anymore. I still casually follow Alabama, but I am not nearly as invested as I once was. TBH I think the only thing that can truly save the sport is for the current model to collapse in on itself, resulting in a total reset... though that is a pipe dream.

It is going to collapse within three years. The High Dollar folks will stop sending their money to the schools. Who is going to maintain the facilities and build new in order to impress these jive ass recruits and their hand out mothers?

You're just ahead of the game.

 

[Brandon Van de Graaff]

Brandon, I rarely disagree with you but:

After the Vandy debacle, (which was shown or mentioned probably a 100 times during the game), if this wasn't a "big" game to Coach DeBoer.................

I get what you're saying... I was referring more to those matchups where his team isn't favored or the it's about even against a ranked team. His record vs. Lanning, Sark, and now Kirby, etc.... But I agree, and he has to understand that in the SEC, every week is it's own gauntlet.

 

[Brandon Van de Graaff]

Good: The pulled pork nachos I made.

Bad: 4 and 9, not just a first down, but a touchdown. I guess if you're gonna suck, make it count.

Ugly: Never think it cant get worse.

My day yesterday was sponsored by Conecuh. Win or lose, I was gonna be ok. Plus there was cookie cake.

 

[Brandon Van de Graaff]

This is good write up. I agree with everything pretty much except for one thing. I don't think Interception return at end of the game was dumb. You can't leave the decision in Referee's hand knowing how things were going in the game. I don't think you would want to leave that decision in Referee's hand where he might said it's a safety. I would want them to go ahead and return it but at least go down immediately once you're out of the end zone. The clock hit 0 as soon he got past 10 yard.

I was probably overly harsh on it, and I'm glad he slid down. It never should have gotten to that point though which adds to my irritation of the whole ordeal.

 

[Justneedme81]

I was probably overly harsh on it, and I'm glad he slid down. It never should have gotten to that point though which adds to my irritation of the whole ordeal.

I don't think you were. I think you were just being honest with the performance of the defense and how things played out.

 

[Rolltide24]

Milroe is making the intermediate throws. His problem yesterday, was that SC had a far more superior pass rush. They might have the best in the league. And he did get rattled from that. Most QB's will be rattled. He's not a Peyton Manning or a Bryce Young when it comes to reading the defense but I do get a sense that he has improved at reading the defenses.

SC just applied a basic premise to thier defense in that they understood that their best players on defense were the DE's. And their best solution on defense was to call a defense that was pure blitz, for the most part. It was fairly effective. And other teams will game plan similarly from now on.

Unfortunately, UT has a pretty good D-line as well. We’ll see how they choose to pressure Milroe, but they’ve had some success this year with their front 7.

 

[mando]

When he's on, he's on and can make almost any throw. When he's pressured, liability.

The GOAT always said the pass rushers job is to effect the QB. All QB's effectiveness suffers under pressure.

I think we are missing CNS ability to generally motivate players, pay attention to details by doing the little things, stop reading their clippings , stop thinking the script A is an automatic win and in game adjustments.

 

[24and7]

The GOAT always said the pass rushers job is to effect the QB. All QB's effectiveness suffers under pressure.

I think we are missing CNS ability to generally motivate players, pay attention to details by doing the little things, stop reading their clippings , stop thinking the script A is an automatic win and in game adjustments.

Except Manziel, Chad Kelly and Joe Burrow..